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Trent was sitting alone in his shared office going over his notes for the day. He could hear the conversation from the locker room as it spilled in through open doors, but he was doing his best to not listen in because from what he had caught there hadn't been anything relevant to his book, so he wasn't prepared to hear the loud crash of a water bottle hitting the wall, or the clamour of upset voices, and he jumped in his seat.
"You're lying!" The Quebecois goalie accused.
"How do you know that's what happened?" asked another voice, which Trent easily recognised as Colin.
"Poor Ted! He must be very sad," an unmistakably sympathetic Dani chimes in.
Unable to resist his curiosity, Trent rolls in his chair through the doorway into the coaches office to hear them better but remain unnoticed. It may not have anything to do with what he was writing, but whatever was happening had affected the whole room, and it was against his nature to ignore it.
"It's true, I swear," responded Isaac, "I heard Coach Beard talking to him in the hallway when practice was over. Lasso's ex-wife has been seeing some bloke called Jake. Said he met their kid and everything. That's serious, innit?"
A murmur of mournful assent ripples through the room. It's a surprise to hear players discussing their manager with empathy and concern. Not that he had much to compare it to, but this was not the type of talk that Trent has come to expect from footballers. He spent his career and youth as an outsider and intruder to these inner sanctums, but what he had seen of typical lockeroom culture was nothing like this, but they genuinely cared for Ted and commiserated over his situation. He wondered how much of this display of supportive masculinity was fortuity and how much was another manifestation of the Lasso Effect, and he jotted down as much into his notebook.
"What if we found him a date to get his mind off of it- he's been single for almost two whole seasons now, yeah?" Jamie Tartt suggests. The locker room once again becomes an incomprehensible cacophony as various players excitedly weigh in their options for eligible candidates.
"He still might not be ready to date again though. There's no time limit on grief." Sam counters, once again showing maturity beyond his age that Trent can't help but to respect. Once again, the other players vocalise their agreement.
"Oi! Settle down, Let's ask him, he's been getting to know the Gaffer for this whole book thing, yeah? Hey, Crimm!" The thundering voice of Isaac McAdoo booms overtop of the dying chatter.
Trent jumps at the noise, and looks up to see a crowd of players staring at him through the doorway. Dread and guilt washes over him and then sinks to rest deep into the base of his spine. Not only is he mortified to be caught eavesdropping, but his mind is reeling over how he could answer a question he was hoping they weren't asking. He weakly offers up "huh?" instead of actual words and tries to lower his heartrate back to normal.
"Do you think the gaffer would go on a date if we found him someone?" Jamie asks Trent, and Trent sighs in a mix of relief and chagrin for not being considered as a date option. He's acutely aware of being under their collective gazes, but does his best to answer honestly while not giving anything away to how he's feeling.
"I believe Ted would do just about anything that the team wanted him to try, but the question would be whether he would accept based on his sense of obligation or a genuine interest. Further -" Trent is cut off by a collective hushing from the team. They nudge eachother, and slowly part to make a path for Ted, Roy and Beard. Just when I think it can't get any worse Trent thinks. He smiles and gives them a small wave.
"Hey fellas. Glad to see y'all makin' Trent feel welcome. Sorry to interrupt, we'll just squeeze through and you can get back to whatever you were talkin' about." Ted cheerfully adresses the gathering. Trent can feel his face turn red, and he snaps his notebook shut then runs his hands through his hair nervously. Beard sits at his chair, and Ted leans against the desk on the side nearest to where Trent had rolled in.
"So, fellas, what's the word?" Ted looks expectantly at the players gathered around them. They look sheepishly around at eachother, avoiding meeting Ted's eyes, not wanting to be the one to say anything.
From the back, comes a bright voice. "Coach, we heard about Michelle. That is tough, but we thought we could find you a date to cheer you up."
The players groan and loose a chorus of "shut the fuck up, Jan Maas!".
Roy just gruffly barks "No!" before he stomps out to his shared office and slams the door loudly.
Ted's eyes flick over to search over Trent's face when Jan Maas blurts out, but he turns his attention back to the group soon after. Trent squirms in his seat, desperately looking for an opportunity to escape. He sees Isaac squinting in their direction, deep in thought, eyeing back and forth between him and Ted and Trent has the uncomfortable sensation of being exposed.
Ted is unreadable, shifting as if he's nervous, but with a calm smile and fists tucked casually into his pockets. "Now, fellas, I appreciate that you care, but that's really alright. No need to make a fuss on my account."
"It's no trouble at all. I know many beautiful women, coach," Richard insists, "or men. I don't judge, but I will need you to let me know so I know who I should call." The team murmurs their agreements.
Again, Ted's eyes flick nervously over towards Trent. It's maddening, it's making his heart race, and Trent silently prays the floor will open up and swallow him whole. Ted, it seemed, was also dealing with his own mortification being put on the spot.
"Thank you, Richard, but I'm okay. I'm just not in the mood to be set up with anyone right now. I've got plenty on my plate."
The players mumble, but accept his word as the end of conversation. They filter back to their lockers, and continue getting changed, much to Trent's relief. Trent turns his focus back to his notebook and exchanges places with Roy in the office, so he doesn't notice the nudges and whispers from the team captain to his teammates about kinesics.